[TomBarry]

How big of a problem do most people tend to have with Ammonia and nitrate buildups in their tanks? I am new to the hobby, and curious to know as much as possible. So far, I am using 'The Conscientious Aquarist' by Robert M. Fenner as my guide.

For at least 6 weeks, probably closer to 8-10 weeks, I used saltwater-adapted tilapia as starter fish in my tank. I recorded ammonia, and nitrate levels every day, and nitrate was consistently below 20ppm. Everything seemed stable, so I figured it was time to get the starter tilapia out and start moving on to bigger and better things. I was using gravel on the bottom of the tank, but I decided that I would enjoy the look of live sand better on the bottom of the tank. I removed the gravel and added the sand. I measured the nitrate levels after the sand settled, and it was once again below 20. In my haste, I added some chromis and a clownfish to the tank. The next day, nitrate had spiked to over 50ppm. I did almost a half a tank water change (58g tank), but nitrate levels did not go down for 2 days. I lost 3 chromis to the bad water conditions. Any idea why this might have happened? I have a UV light, and there should easily have been enough bacteria build up to do better biofiltration of the nitrate levels. Also, I had 3 pretty big chunks of live rock in the tank.

Also, my dad, a research scientist at UW-Madison, is working on developing a device that, in theory, could convert aqueous ammonia directly into nitrogen gas. This would help to eliminate nitrite and nitrate buildup in tanks. Would there be a market for a device like that? I know biofiltration and water changes keep tanks in stable condition, but maybe it would help a lot for fish-only systems? I find it kind of ironic that I ran into the exact problem he wants me to address on here. But anyway, any thoughts or comments are welcome.